Sunday, August 28, 2005

Kartography

Interesting book (so far), but Kamila Shamsie needs to hang out with 13 year old kids a little more before she starts writing dialogue that purports to be between them. Either that or this book is about particularly precocious brats whose levels of self-awareness make me dizzy:

'Listen, [Raheen says] 'We're adolescents. We're supposed to be rebellious for the sake of it. So if you just want something that has nothing to do with making linen, that's really fine and in keeping with this stage of life and all that. But there are more interesting options than latitudes and longitudes...'

[More Raheen]: 'You are dismissed as incontinent, irreverent and immaterialistic...' [God, at least make her use the words as if she's just discovered them.]

And Zia driving a Merc at thirteen [spank these brats, I say]...

Oh and if you discover adult Pakistani men (apart from Asif Memon) referring to each other as 'mate' a decade and a half after leaving England, please refer these curious creatures to me. As I said, interesting book but KS needs to think about her characters more before she makes them speak.